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http://vyww.archive.org/details/godscovenantsermOOwalk 


^otf's  €ot)cnant: 


A  SERMON, 


PREACHED 


ON  THK 


THIMEENTfl    SUNDAY  AUM  TRISITY, 


M  DCCCXLI  V, 


IN  TRINITY  CHURCH,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS; 


BY   THE   RECTOR. 


CHICAGO: 

ELLIS   &  FERGUS,   PRINTERS, 

SALOON  BUILDINGS. 

1844. 


The  Church  is  to  us  that  very  Mother  of  our  new 
birth,  in  whose  bowels  we  are  all  bred,  at  whose 
breasts  we  receive  nourishment.  As  many,  tliere- 
fore,  as  are  apparently  to  our  judgment  born  of 
God,  they  have  the  seed  of  their  regeneration  by 
the  ministry  of  the  Church,  which  useth  to  that  end 
and  purpose  not  only  the  Word,  but  the  Sacra- 
ments, both  having  generative  force,  and  virtue.  . 
.  .  .  We  all  admire  and  honor  the  Holy  Sacra- 
ments, not  respecting  so  much  the  service  which 
we  do  un'o  God  in  receiving  them,  as  the  dignity 
of  that  sacred  and  secret  gift  which  we  thereby  re- 
ceive from  God. 

HOOKXR. 


TO  THE  RIGHT  REVEREND 

BENJAMIN  TREADWELL  ONDERDONK,  D.D., 

BISHOF  OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  NEW  TORK, 

THIS  SERMON, 

WITH     THAT    FEELING 

OF  DUTIFUL  REVERENCE  AND  AFFECTION 

PROPER   TO    AN    OWN    SON    IN    THE    FAITH, 

AND  WITH  A  GRATEFUL  REMEMBRANCE 

OF  VERT  ABUNDANT  KINDNESSES  RECEIVED 

DURING    TWELVE    TEARS    OF    EPISCOPAL, 

AND  A  LONGER  PERIOD  OF  PASTORAL 

SUBJECTION, 

IS  AFFECTIONATELT  INSCRIBED, 

BT 

THE    AUTHOR, 

W.   F.   WALKER. 

CHICAGO,  FESTIVAL  OP  ST.  MATTHEW,  THE   APOSTLE,  MDCCCXLIV. 


If  tetoporal  estates  may  be  convcy'd, 
By  covenants  on  condition, 

To  men,  and  to  their  heirs;  be  not  afraid, 
My  aoul,  to  rest  apeo 

Thft  covenaat  of  giace  by  raerey  made^ 


Do  but  thy  duty,  and  rely  upon't, 

Repentance,  faith,  obedience, 

Whenever  practiced  truly,  will  amount 
To  an  authentic  evidence, 

Though  the  deed  were  antedated  at  the  Font. 
The  Stnaoocuk. 


SERMON. 


DEUTEROMONY  XXIX.  10,  11,  12,  13. 


Ye  stand  this  day  all  of  you  before  the  Lord  your  God;  your  captaiks 
of  your  tribes,  your  elders,  and  your  officers,  with  all  the  men  of  israel, 

Your  little  ones,  your  wives,  and  thy  stranger  that  is  in  thy  camp,  from 
the  hewer  of  thy  wood  unto  the  drawer  of  thy  water: 

That  thou  shouldest  enter  into  covenant  with  the  Lord  thy  God,  and 
INTO  His  oath,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  maketh  with  thee  this  day: 

That  He  may  establish  thee  to-day  for  a  people  unto  Himself,  and  that 
He  may  be  unto  thee  a  God,  as  He  hath  said  unto  thee,  and  as  He  hath 
sworn  unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob. 


Solemn,  interesting,  and  instructive  must  have  been  that 
assembling  of  Israel,  on  occasion  of  which  the  address  in  the  text 
was  deUvered.  The  captains  of  the  tribes,  the  elders,  the  officers, 
the  little  ones,  the  wives,  the  stranger  that  was  in  the  camp;  young 
men  and  maidens,  old  men  and  children ;  all  ranks,  ages,  and  call- 
ings, in  one  vast  gathering,  were  presenting  themselves  before  the 
Lord  their  God. 

Momentously"  concerning  too  was  the  object  which  was  to 
engage  them.  What  eagerness  must  it  have  imparted  to  their 
looks ;  what  reverent  earnestness  to  their  every  step  1 

My  Brethren,  what  a  spectacle  would  such  a  scene  present  in 
an  age  secularized,  and  well-nigh  sold  to  this  world,  as  is  this  of 
ours!  How  unreal  would  be  deemed  that  impress  of  things 
eternal,  borne  by  each  captain,  and  elder,  and  officer,  each  father 
and  mother,  with  the  pledges  of  their  love, — their  little  ones, — 
while  thus  ihey  made  acknowledgment  of  God's  mercy  and 
alraightiness  !  How  should  we  stand  in  awe  to  behold  thus  a  vast 
multitude,  forgetting  for  a  time  the  perishing  things  which  are  not 
of  God,  and  with  faces  steadfastly  set  towards  that  light  whose 
brightness  is  unfading,  towards  those  joys  whose  measure  is  unfail- 
ing, towards  that  God  whose  characteristic  is  unchanging,  and 
whose  "mercy  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  upon  them  that  fear 


6  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

Him,  and  remember  His  commandments  to  do  them."  And  what 
a  rebuke  should  we  suffer,  as  we  witnessed  this  immense  concourse 
of  all  ages  and  conditions  of  men,  "  Standing  before  the  Lord  God, 
to  enter  into  His  covenant,  and  into  His  oath,  to  be  established  for 
a  people  unto  himself!"  For  such  is  the  record  of  the  high  pur- 
pose for  which  Israel  was  then  assembled.  "Ye  stand  this  day," 
says  Moses,  "all  of  you  before  the  Lord  your  God  ;  your  captains 
of  your  tribes,  your  elders,  and  your  officers,  with  all  the  men  of 
Israel,  your  little  ones,  your  wives,  and  thy  stranger  that  is  in  thy 
camp,  from  the  hewer  of  thy  wood  unto  the  drawer  of  thy  water: 
that  thou  shouldest  enter  into  covenant  with  the  Lord  thy  God, 
and  into  His  oath,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  maketh  with  thee  this 
day:  that  He  may  establish  thee  to-day  for  a  people  unto  Him- 
self, and  that  He  may  be  unto  thee  a  God,  as  He  hath  said  unto 
thee,  and  as  He  hath  sworn  unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abraham,  to 
Isaac,  and  to  Jacob."* 

This  record,  my  Brethren,  presents  the  subject  for  our  address 
this  afternoon;  a  season  which,  in  our  plans  for  your  and  your 
children's  good,  has  been  appointed  for  instructing,  "openly  in 
the  Church,  so  many  of  the  children  of  the  parish,  as  may  be  sent 
hither  for  the  purpose,  in  some  part  of  the  Church  Catechism  ;"t 
and  which  has  witnessed  the  "  entering  into  God's  covenant  and 
oath,  to  be  established  for  a  people  unto  Himself,"  some  of  our 
"little  ones,"  mirrors  of  the  kingdom,  as  the  Savior  hath  given 

it4 

This  subject,  lying  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  catechism — 
which  you  have  just  heard  recited — and  therefore  suggesting 
itself  as  most  appropriate  for  consideration  at  this  particular  lime 

THE    ADMISSION   OF    INFANTS    INTO  COVENANT  WITH    GoD 

may  now  engage  us. 

May  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  by  whose  inspiration  the  text  was 
penned,  be  with  us,  while  we  briefly  show  the  claims  which  this 
subject  has  to  your  considerate  attention,  and  the  blessings  which 
may  be  expected  to  accompany  a  faithful  observance  of  the 
Divine  will  with  regard  to  it!  ^ 

I.  As  Jesus  Christ  is  that  "Lamb  of  God"  which  was  "slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  vvorld,"|l  by  whose  obedience,  even 
unto  death,§  it  was  alone  provided,  in  the  eternal  counsels  of  the 

*  Deut.  xxix.  10,  11,  12,  13.  tThe  first  Sunday  in  the  month. 

{St.  Mark  x.  14.     Some  children  were  baptised  "iramediatel)  after  the  last  lesson.'' 
llRev.  xiii.  8.  i  Phil.  ii.  8. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  7 

Godhead,  that  sin  should  be  remitted,  and  the  "  names  "  of  any, 
after  man's  apostacy  from  God,  be  ever  "written  in  the  book  of 
life,"*  so,  IN  Him,  was  established  that  covenant  of  promise  which 
had  respect  to  man's  recovery,  made  immediately  after  the  fall;t 
and  which,  under  various  forms,  at  different  times,  and  to  sundry 
persons,  in  succeeding  generations,  was  renewed,  up  to  the  period 
of  its  full  and  final  ratification  and  confirmation,  in  the  face  of 
angels  and  of  men,  in  the  fearful  agonies  of  Gethsemane  and 
Calvary4  Patriarchs  and  prophets,  therefore,  with  apostles  and 
martyrs, — "the  saints  of  all  ages," — who,  "having  obtained  a 
good  report,  through  faith, "||  and  are  "partakers  of  the  glory 
that  shall  be  revealed,"*^  are  indebted  for  their  blessedness  to  the 
same  mercy,  granted  to  them  for  the  merits  of  that  one  obedience, 
conveyed  to  them  through  that  one  and  the  same  "  covenant  that 
was  confirmed  before  of  God  in  Christ,"^ — "the"  true  "Lamb 
of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world."**  "  There  is 
salvation  in  no  other;  for  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven, 
given  among  men  whereby"  any  have  been,  or  "can  be  saved."+t 
"  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is 
Jesus  Christ."||  "He  is  the  propitiation  for  our* sins:  and  not 
for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."  1|||  This 
"Lamb"  was  provided,  this  "name"  was  given,  this  "foundation" 
was  laid,  this  "propitiation"  was  offered,  this  way  of  "access" 
opened,  when  the  Almighty  promulged  of  the  seed  of  the  wo- 
man,— "  it  shall  bruise  thy  head."t  It  was  through  this  media- 
lion,  Abel  "obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous,  God  testifying 
of  his  gifts. "<^§  It  was  this  Divine  object  which  engaged  the 
faith  of  Enoch,  who  was  translated  "  for  this  testimony."^^ 
On  this  "way  of  access"  was  fastened  the  hope  of  Noah,  who 
"by  faith,  became  heir  of"  this  "righteousness."***  To  this  de- 
liverance, the  faith  of  Abraham  had  regard,  by  which,  "  when  he 
was  tried,"  he  "  offered  up  Isaac."ttt  This  was  the  substance  of 
the  promise  made  to  the  patriarchs, — "  In  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  be  ble?sed,"J|J  which  an  Apostle  expressly 

*Rev.  xiii.  8.  tGen.  iii.  15. 

tSee  Homily  on  the  Nativity.  ||Heb.  xi.  39.              §1  Pet.  v.  1. 

UGal.  iii.  17.  **Rev.  xiii.  8.            ttActs  iv.  12. 

tU  Cor.  iii.  11.  1|||]  John  ii.  2. 

$^Heb.  xi.  4.  HHHeb.  xi.  5. 

***Heb.  xi.  7.  tttHeb.  xi.  17. 

tttGen.  xxii.  18;  .xxvi.  4;  xxviii.  14. 


8  covena:nt  with  god. 

terms  "the  Gospel,"  and  says  that  the  "seed"  here  spoken  of 
"is  Christ."* 

This  foretold  and  fore-shadowed  Redeemer  was  believed  on  by 
Moses  and  Joshua,  David  and  Isaiah,  and  all  "  the  prophets,"  by 
whom  were  "testified  beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the 
glory  that  should  follow."!  "The  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the 
spirit  of  prophecy."^  "  To  Him  give  all  the  prophets  witness, 
that  through  His  name  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  shall  receive 
remission  of  sins."||  Those,  therefore,  who  "obtained  a  good 
report,"  through  faith,  before  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  obtained 
it,  as  such  report  is  now  obtained,  in  virtue  of  the  one  covenant 
of  promise  made  with  man  immediately  after  the  fall.  That  cove- 
nant was  with  the  fathers  a  covenant  of  grace  and  faith,  the  pro- 
mises of  which  they  saw  only  afar  off,  and  through  a  cloud  and 
temporal  veil;  with  us  it  is  the  same  covenant  of  grace  and  faith, 
with  the  promises  brought  nigh,  the  veil  being  removed,  so  that 
we  behold  them  with  open  glory.  "  The  righteousness  which  is 
by  faith, "^  God  made  to  be  its  spirit  and  life;  and,  the  alone 
Author  of  salvation  by  it,  the  "  one  Mediator  between  God  and 
men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus, "^  without  whom,  that  which  is  writ- 
ten hath  been  unchangeably  true  from  the  beginning,  "  no  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father,"**  without  whom  man  can  do  noth- 
ing.tt  It  is  therefore  frequently  styled  "  a  perpetual  cove- 
nant,"|J  "an  everlasting  covenant, "||||  a  "covenant  that  shall  not 
be  forgotten. "Jl     "Both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,"  de- 

*Gal.  iii.  8,  16. 

"  All  these  fathers,  martyrs,  and  other  holy  men,  whom  St.  Paul  spake  of,  had 
their  faith  surely  fixed  in  God,  wheu  all  the  world  was  against  them.  They  did  not 
only  know  God  to  be  the  Lord,  Maker,  and  Governor  of  all  men  in  Uie  world;  but 
also  they  have  a  special  confidence  and  trust,  that  He  was  and  would  be  their  God, 
their  Comforter,  Aider,  Helper,  Maintainer,  and  Defender.  This  is  the  Christian 
faith,  which  these  holy  men  had,  and  we  also  ought  to  have.  And  although  they 
were  not  named  Chrisfian  men,  yet  was  it  a  Christian  faith  that  they  had  ;  for  they 
looked  for  all  the  benefits  of  God  the  Father,  tlirough  the  merits  of  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ,  aa  we  now  do.  This  difference  is  between  them  and  us,  that  they  looked 
when  Christ  should  come,  and  we  be  in  the  time  when  He  is  come.  Therefore, 
saith  St.  Augustine,  '  Tlie  time  is  altered  and  changed,  but  not  the  faith.'  (In 
Johan  Tract  45.)  For  we  have  both  one  faith  in  Christ.  '  The  same  Holy  Ghost 
that  we  have,  had  they,"  saith  St.  Paul  (2  Cor.  iv.  13).  ...  In  effect  they  and 
we  be  all  one ;  we  have  the  same  faith  that  tliey  had  in  God,  and  they  the  same  that 
we  have."  Homily  of  Faith ;  Second  Part. 

tl  Pet.  i.  11.  tRev.  xix.  10.  HActs  x.  43. 

$Heb.  xi.  7.  HI  Tim.  ii.  5.  **St.  John  xiv.  6. 

ttSt.  John  XV.  5.  «Jer.  1.  5.  ||l|Gen.  xvii.  7, 19. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  ^ 

dares  our  Seventh  Article  of  Religion,  •'  everlasting  life  is  offered 
to  mankind  by  Christ,  who  is  the  only  Mediator  between  God 
and  man,  being  both  God  and  man.  Wherefore  they  are  not  to 
be  heard,  which  feign  that  the  old  fathers  did  look  only  for  transi- 
tory promises."*  Hence,  we  conclude,  in  the  language  of  the 
Westminster  Confession,  —  "There  are  not  two  covenants  of 
grace,  differing  in  substance,  but  one  and  the  same  under  various 
dispensations,  .  .  .  differently  administered  in  the  time  of  the 
law,  and  in  the  time  of  the  gospel."t 

II.  The  character  of  this  covenant,  my  Brethren,  is  peculiar; 
it  is  a  holy  covenant.  It  is  as  strongly  marked  by  this  designation, 
as  that  it  is  everlasting.  Its  foundation  is  holy ;  being  laid,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  the  councils  of  the  eternal  and  ever  adorable  Trinity, 
upon  the  "  only  begotten  Son  of  God,"t  in  whom  is  the  fulness 
of  holiness.  Its  spirit  is  holy ;  for  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  which  pervades  it,  by  which  it  is  animated,  and 
the  form  made  the  power  of  godliness.||  Its  end  is  holy;  for  it 
was  provided  to  separate  and  make  holy  a  people  whom  God 
would  establish  to  be,  in  a  preeminent  sense.  His  people.^  Its 
subjects  are  holy;  being  such  as  are  "chosen  of  God,  and  pre- 
cious,"T[  "called  according  to  His  purpose,"**  "conformed  to 
the  image  of  His  Son, "ft  "created  in  righteousness  and  true 
holiness."||: 

The  grace  of  holiness,  therefore,  flows  through  it,  and  the  fruits 
of  holiness  can  alone  be  yielded  by  it.  The  one,  is  in  virtue  of 
the  sacramental  power  of  God's  appointment,  by  which  the  thing 
signified  is  made  the  accompaniment  of  the  sign  which  represents 
it;|||l  the  other,  is  because  of  the  gracious  influences  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  therein  vouchsafed,  by  which  the  lost  are  recovered,  the 
fallen  restored,  the  corrupt  renewed,  the  weak  strengthened,  and 
the  disobedient  led  onward  in  obedience  and  holiness.§§  So 
singularly  and  so  emphatically  is  this  a  holy  covenant,  that  all  the 
treasures  of  holiness  would  seem  to  be  comprehended  exclusively 
within  it.  For  the  same  Apostle  who  has  taught  that  "  without  holi- 
ness no  man  shall  see  the  Lord,"^^  has  expressly  declared  that 

*Art.  vii.,  Book  of  Com.  Prayer.        tConfession  of  Faith,  chap.  vii.  5,  6. 
tSt.  John  iii.  18. 

Ill  Cor.  vi.  17;  2  Cor.iii.  17;  1  Cor.  ii.  10;  xii.  13;  Heb.  xiii.  20,  21. 
$Deut.  xxvi.  18,  19.  HI  Pet.  ii.  4,  5;  2  Thess.  ii.  13. 

**Rom.  viii.  28.  ttRom.  viii.  29.  UEph.  iv.  24. 

mils.  Iv.  11.  ^jRoui.  vi.  3-6.  HHHeb.  xu.  14. 

B 


10  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

*'  Strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise,  have  no  hope,  and  are 
without  God  in  the  world;*  thus  making  fellowship  in  the  "cove- 
nants of  promise"  necessary  to  a  revealed  hope,  to  which  a  parti- 
cipation of  holiness  is  indispensable.  In  harmony  with  this,  is  the 
teaching  of  our  Article, — which  asserts,  that,  *'  The  condition  of 
man  after  the  fall,  is  such,  that  he  cannot  turn  and  prepare  himself, 
by  his  own  natural  strength  and  good  works,  to  faith,  and  calling 
upon  God :  wherefore  we  have  no  power  to  do  good  works 
pleasant  and  acceptable  to  God,  without  the  grace  of  God  by 
Christ" — that  is,  by  the  covenant  of  God  in  Christ — "preventing 
us,  that  we  may  have  a  good  will,  and  working  with  us,  when  we 
have  that  good  will."t  And  this  is  sustained  by  the  bold  decla- 
ration of  the  Westminster  Confession,  that  "  out  of  [this  covenant] 
there  is  no  ordinary  possibility  of  salvation."|  The  members  of 
God's  covenant,  then,  form  a  regenerate  company,  have  their  sins 
remitted,  are  given  up  unto  God,  through  Christ,  to  walk  in  new- 
ness of  life,||  are  in  a  "state  of  salvation,"^  and,  by  the  grace 
of  which  they  are  therein  made  partakers,  are  enabled  to  "  do 
good  works,  pleasant  and  acceptable  unto  God,"t — to  "  become 
holy,  as  He  who  hath  called  them  is  holy  ;"^  and,  so  changed,  are 
a  "  people  peculiar,"**  in  fulfilment  of  their  high  calling  of  God. 
Thus,  through  Moses,  the  Almighty  taught  Israel,  "the  Lord 

hath  avouched  thee  ...  to  be  his  peculiar  people, that 

thou  mayest  be  a  holy  people  unto  the  Lord  thy  God  :"tt  and, 

again,  in  the  words  of  the  text,  "  Ye  stand  this  day  all  of  you 

to  enter  into  covenant  with  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  into  His  oath; 
that  He  may  establish  thee  for  a  people  unto  Himself,  and  that 
He  may  be  unto  thee  a  God,  and  may  spare  thee,  and  may  turn 
away  His  anger,  and  His  jealousy,  and  His  curses  from  thee." 

How  emphatically  holy,  then,  is  God's  covenant !  Holy  in  all 
that  it  is,  all  that  it  intends,  all  that  it  embraces ! 

III.  The  outward  divinely  appointed  means  or  mode  of  admis- 
sion to  a  participation  in  this  covenant,  the  manner  by  which  to 
"enter,"  or,  as  the  words  are  in  the  Hebrew,  "pass  into"  it, — in 
allusion  to  the  manner  by  which  covenants  were  anciently  made 
in  the  eastern  countries,  by  dividing  the  sacrifice,  and  passing 


*Eph.  ii.  12.        tArt.  x.  B.  C.  P.        tConfession  of  Faith,  chap.  xxv.  II. 
llWest.  Confession  of  Faith,  chap,  xxviii.  1. 

§Church  Catechism.  HI  Pet.  i.  15. 

**Titus  ii.  14.  ttDeut.  xxvi.  18,  9. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  11 

between  the  parts  of  it* — its  "sign  and  seal,"  has  varied  in  differ- 
ent and  succeeding  periods  of  its  history. 

From  the  first  establishment  of  the  covenant  of  recovery,  to  the 
deliverance  of  Noah  and  his  family  from  "the  flood,"  which  came 
in  "  upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly  and  condemned  them  with  an 
overthrow,"!  the  means  or  mode  of  "passing  into"  it  would 
seem  to  have  consisted  simply  in  sacrifice.}  Herein  was  mani- 
fested a  recognition  of  the  great  and  essential  principle,  that 
"without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission ;"||  and  an  attesta- 
tion of  faith,  which  rendered  the  sacrifice  "  more  excellent,"  and 
secured  a  participation  in  the  real  blessings  of  the  covenant, — in 
the  One  Great  Sacrifice,  the  Lamb  of  God's  providing,  who  was 
"once,  in  the  end  of  the  world,  to  appear,  to  put  away  sin  by  the 
sacrifice  of  Himself  ;§  and  so  make  an  "  eternal  redemption,"^ — 
"the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,"**  whose  "blood"  is  that  "of  the 
everlasting  covenant,"tt  which  alone  can  sanctify.||  It  has  ever 
been  received  as  a  provision  of  the  Almighty,  that,  as  before  the 
fall,  the  submission  of  the  will  of  man  to  that  of  God  should  be 
tested  by  a  divinely  imposed  restraint,  and  man's  spiritual  life 
preserved  by  continual  obedience,  and  he  be  nourished  up  to 
ripeness  in  moral  perfection  sacramentally, — by  participation  of 

*Gen.  XV.  10,  17.  12  Pet.  ii.  5,  6. 

tAdam  and  his  sons  offered  to  God  real  sacrifices.  Adam,  in  all  likelihood, 
j.eceived  some  order  concerning  it;  and  began  to  sacrifice  by  direction  of  the 
Shechinah,  or  Divine  Majesty.  His  sons  were  instructed  by  him  to  perform  this 
duty ;  and  by  his  exact  conformity  with  those  instructions,  Abel's  sacrifice  was  "  more 
excellent"  than  that  of  Cain,  who  offered  after  the  device  of  his  own  heart.  Else 
how  came  Abel  to  believe  that  his  sacrifice  of  a  beast  would  be  so  acceptable  to 
God,  as  the  Apostle  says  it  was  by  faith?  Patrick. 

"  The  very  circumstance  of  Abel's  sacrifice  having  been  offered  "  by  faith,"  proves 
it  to  have  been  with  reference  to  some  antecedent  revelation,  in  obedience  to  soma 
antecedent  command.  There  would  have  been  no  faith  in  offering  that  which  was 
not  commanded.  Such  an  act  would  have  resembled  that  "  will-worship  "  (Col.  ii. 
23)  which  the  Apostle  speaks  of  to  the  Colossians,  and  speaks  of  only  to  condemn; 
and  assuredly,  therefore,  could  never  have  had  the  commendation  which  it  is  said  to 
have  received."  Anderson. 

IIHeb.  ix.  22.         §Ib.  vs.  26.        Hlb.  vs.  12.        '"lb.  x.  10.         tHb.  xiii.  20. 

iftThese  offerings  signified,  that  man  is  a  sinner,  and  therefore  obnoxious  to  the 
just  indignation  and  extreme  displeasure  of  the  holy  and  righteous  God;  and  that 
God  was  to  be  propitiated,  and  that  He  might  pardon  him  ;  that  God  would  not 
forgive  sin  without  the  atonement  of  justice,  which  required  the  death  of  the  of- 
fender; but  it  being  tempered  with"  mercy,  accepted  a  sacrifice  in  his  stead.  .  .  . 
As  they  had  a  relation  to  Christ,  the  Great  Gospel  Sacrifice,  who  was  their  comple- 
ment, so  they  signified  the  expiation  of  moral  guilt  by  His  sacrifice,  and  freed  the 
sinner  from  that  temporal  death  to  which  he  was  liable,  as  a  representation  of  the 
freedom  from  eternal  death  by  the  blood  of  the  Cross.  Cruden. 


12  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

the  "tree  of  life  ;"*  so,  after  the  fall,  that  the  "  obedience  of  faith"f 
should  restore  him  to  a  •'  state  of  salvation,"  restraint  be  the  test 
of  the  submission  of  his  will,  and  sacramental  grace  "renew" 
him  ever  more  and  more  "in  knowledge,  after  the  image  of 
Him  that  created  Him."|  Thus^  it  was  by  "sacrifice,  Abel  ob- 
tained witness  that  he  was  righteous  ;"||  and  thus  others  were 
gathered  into  that  "Church,  of  the  first-born,"^  who,  like  Abel, 
offered  "by  faith  and  rightly,"  "God  testifying  of  their  gifts,"l[ 
by  accepting  their  services  and  rewarding  their  persons.  Such  is 
the  consentient  testimony  of  Doctors  and  Fathers,  indeed  of  the 
whole  Church  Catholic  of  God,  the  authoritative  interpreter,  as 
she  is  the  authorized  keeper,  of  His  holy  word.** 

But  in  a  short  season,  after  men  had  multiplied,  they  so 
"corrupted  their  way  upon  the  earth, "tt  that  "few"  in  the  num- 
ber of  God's  people,  "eight  souls"  only,  remembered  their 
calling,  when  the  overthrow  of  waters  came,  and  the  ark,  a  type 
of  the  Church  in  all  ages,  bore  over  its  heaving  floods  that  "rem- 
nant" of  "such  as  would  be  saved."|| 

"After  this,  the  Jews  report  that  the  world  took  up  the  doctrine 
of  baptisms,  in  remembrance  that  the  iniquity  of  the  old  world  was 
purged  by  water;  and  they  washed  all  that  came  to  the  service  of 

*Gen.  iii.  22.  tRom.  xvi.  2G. 

tSt.  John  iii.  5;  vi.  51,  54,  58;  Titus  iii.  5,  6,  7;  Col.  iii.  10. 

IIHeb.  xi.  4.  §lb.  xU.  23.  Ulb.  xi.  4. 

"In  Abel's  sacrifice,  there  was  a  direct  acknowledgment  of  tlie  promise  which 
spake  of  the  deliverance  from  sin.  His  faith  beheld  the  "  seed  of  the  woman  "  tri- 
umphing over  and  "destroying  Him  that  had  the  power  ol' death,  that  is,  the  devil." 
(Heb.  ii.  14).  The  firstling  of  the  flock  which  he  offered,  whilst,  in  its  death,  it  tes- 
tified the  fearful  penalty  annexed  to  man's  transgression,  bore  witness  also  to  the 
propitiation  hereafter  to  be  effected  by  Him,  who  "  hath  redeemed  us  to  God  by  His 
blood."  (Rev.  v.  9.)  It  shadowed  forth  the  salvation  that  was  purchased  by  "the 
Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.'"  (Rev.  xiii.  8.)  "By  faitli"  he 
offered  it." 

"  No  marvel,  therefore,  that  Abel,  thus  offering  "a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than 
Cain,"  filuiuld,  by  that  sacrifice,  or,  by  the  faith  which  prompted  it,  (for  to  either  will 
the  word  apply,)  have  "obtained  witness  tliat  he  was  righteous,  God  testifying  of 
his  gifts."     (Heb.  xi.  5.)  Anderson. 

*''A  contrary  view  of  the  opinion  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Chuch,  that  sacrifice  was 
not  of  Divine  Institution,  is  advocated  by  Davison,  in  his  Inquiry  into  the  Origin 
and  Intent  of  Primitive  Sacrifice  ;  but  a  more  accurate  examination  of  their  writings 
made  by  Faber,  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Origin  of  Expiatory  Sacrifice — a  work  on 
the  subject  second  only  to  that  of  Arch-Bishop  Magee  on  the  Atonement — sub- 
stantiates the  assertion  in  the  text,  by  quoted  passages  froiu  Augustin,  Athanasius, 
Eusebius,  and  otliers,  in  attestation  of  their  views.  See  Faber's  Treatise,  sect.  vi. 
chap.  viii.  pp.  257 — 294. 

ttGen.  vi.  12.  tU  Pet.  iii.  20,  21 ;  Acts  ii.  47. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  13 

the  true  God,  and,  by  that  baptism,  bound  them  to  the  observation 
of  the  precepts  which  God  gave  to  them."*  But  as  sacrifice  had 
not  availed  before,  so  sacrifice  and  that  baptism  availed  not  now  to 
keep  in  memory  among  men  the  nature  of  their  calling,  and  to 
preserve  them  steadfast  unto  the  covenant  which  God  had  esta- 
blished. Though  the  one  witnessed  in  an  almost  ever  flowing 
stream  of  blood  to  the  dreadful  penalty  of  man's  revolt,  and 
pointed  with  most  touching  emphasis  to  the  Ransom  which  mercy 
had  offered ;  and  though  the  other  spoke  no  less  plainly  of  de- 
struction and  of  rescue,  of  uncleanness  and  of  purity,  yet  did  the 
race  become  again  rebellious,  having  their  "understandings  dark- 
ened," and  "  their  foolish  hearts"  so  hardened,  that  "they  remem- 
bered not  the  Most  High  God  who  had  redeemed  them  and  saved 
them ;"  but  "  forgat  His  wondrous  works,"  in  their  behalf,  and 
"the  judgments  of  His  mouth,"  and  "walked  again  frowardly, 
and  sinned  yet  more  and  more  against  Him;"  "insomuch  that 
they  worshipped  idols,  which  turned  to  their  own  decay ;  yea, 
they  offered  their  sons  and  their  daughters  unto  devils."t  Thus, 
the  same  evils,  which  had  been  before  enacted,  were  again  repeated; 
and  were  continued,  till  the  rebuke  given  to  the  mad  defiance  at 
Babel  prepared  the  way  for  a  surer  "  token  of  the  covenant,"! — 
"  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace  "|| — of  "  the  righteous- 
ness which  is  of  God  by  faith."§  By  the  token  of  his  unfailing 
promise,  God  had  given  assurance  that  He  would  not  destroy 
the  men  of  that  new  world  from  off  the  earth.^  "He"  then 
"  thought  upon  His  covenant,  and  pitied  them,  and,  according  to 
the  multitude  of  His  mercies,"  chose  rather  to  get  to  Himself 
glory  by  electing  one,  and  the  seed  which  should  spring  from 
him," — His  "  heirs  by  faith, "^— to  be  especially  His  own,  out  of 
all  the  families  of  the  earth,  to  whom  he  might  be  a  God,  and 
they  be  to  Him  a  people,  loving  and  obedient,  to  whom  He 
might  commit  His  oracles,  by  whom  the  knowledge  of  Him  might 
be  preserved,  from  whom  should  spring  the  promised  "seed  of 
the  woman,"  and  "in  whom  all  the  families  of  the  earth  should 
be  blessed."** 

It  was  then  that  Abraham  was  called,  and  received  the  sign 
of  circumcision,  which  God  appointed  for  him  and  his  seed, 
after  him,  in  their  generations,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  na- 

*Jereray  Taylor.  IPs.  cvi.  tGen.  xvii.  11. 

llWest.  Con.  of  Faith,  chap,  xxviii.  1.  §PhiL  iii.  9. 

UGen.  ix.  13,  14,  15.  ***Ib.  xxii.  18. 


14  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

tions  who  were  not  within  the  covenant  of  grace,  to  "be  a  token 
of  the  covenant"* — a  "sign  and  seal"  of  "the  righteousness  of 
faith.".t  Circumcision  was  thus  added  to  sacrifice  as  a  means 
which  God  required  to  be  observed  in  order  to  a  participation  in 
the  grace  of  His  covenant:  and  these  two  were  practiced,  until 
after  the  exodus  from  Egypt,  and  'during  the  sojourn  of  the 
children  ot  Israel  in  the  wilderness,  when  the  baptism  then 
customary  was  Divinely  appointed  in  the  command  thus  given  by 
God  to  Moses;  "Go  unto  the  people  and  sanctify  them  to-day 
and  to-morrow;  and  let  them  wash  their  clothes,  and  be  ready 
against  the  third  day:  for  the  third  day  the  Lord  will  come  down  in 
the  sight  of  all  the  people  upon  Mount  Sinai."t  By  this  com- 
mand, Moses  was  to  "sanctify"  all  the  people,  by  causing  them 
to  "  be  baptised."  That  such  is  the  meaning  of  the  passage,  all 
authorities,  both  Jewish  and  Christian,  concur  in  teaching.  Mai- 
monides,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Jewish  authorities, 
says:  "Baptism  was  in  the  wilderness  just  before  the  giving  of 
the  Law;  as  it  is  written;  'sanctify  them  [i.  e.  baptise  them]  to- 
day and  to-morrow,  and  let  them  wash  their  clothes.' "|| 

From  this  time  three  things  would  appear  to  have  been  -«ii«n 
practised  as  means  of  being  brought  within  the  covenant — Sacrifice, 
Circumcision,  and  Baptism.  Thus  Maimonides  says:  "By  three 
things  did  Israel  enter  into  covenant, — by  circumcision,  and  bap- 
tism, and  sacrifice."^  And  Rabbi  Solomon — "  Our  Rabbins 
teach  that  our  fathers  entered  into  covenant  by  circumcision,  and 
baptism,  and  sprinkling  of  blood."^  And  St.  Paul  declares  of 
those  whom  we  know  to  have  received  circumcision,  and  to  have 
practiced  sacrifice,  that  they  "were  all  baptised;"  "for  all  our 
fathers,"  says  he,  "were  under  the  cloud,  and  all  passed  through 
the  sea;  and  were  all  baptised  unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the 
sea."**     The  same  requisition  was  made  of  proselytes  from  the 

*Gen.  xvii.  10,  12,  14,23,  24.  tib.  xv.  6;  Heb.  xi.  6. 

As  the  faith  of  Abel  was  evidenced  by  his  sacrifice,  and  found  him  accept- 
ance, so  Abraham  testified,  by  sacrifice,  that  he  "beheved  in  the  Lord,  and  it  was 
counted  to  him  for  righteousness,"  before  he  was  circumcised.  It  is  thus  that  his 
circumcisiou  became  "  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  the  faith  which  he  had  being 
uncircumcised;"  and  that  "  they  which  are  of  faith  are  the  children  of  Abraham," 
whether  in  circumcision  or  uncircumcisiou.  If  faith  but  exist  and  prove  itself  in 
the  fruits  which  are  required  to  flow  from  it, — the  terms  of  God's  covenant  will  be 
complied  with,  and  its  sui)jects  are  made  "  heirs  according  to  the  promise." 

tEx.  xix.  10,  11.  Illssuri  Bia.,  c.  13.  ^Issuri  Bia.,  c.  13. 

fin  Ex.  xix.  10.  *»1  Cor.  x.  1,  2. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  15 

Gentiles :  one  ordinance  was  both  for  the  congregation,  and  also 
for  the  stranger  that  sojourned  with  them.*  Says  Maimonides : 
"In  all  ages,  when  a  Gentile  is  willing  to  enter  into  the  covenant, 
and  gather  himself  under  the  wings  of  the  Majesty  of  God,  and 
take  upon  him  the  yoke  of  the  law,  he  must  be  circumcised,  and 
baptised,  and  bring  a  sacrifice ;  or,  if  it  be  a  woman,  be  baptised 
and  bring  a  sacrifice.  As  it  is  written,  '  as  you  are,  so  shall  thy 
stranger  be.'  How  are  you  brought  into  the  covenant.^  By  cir- 
cumcision, and  baptism,  and  bringing  of  a  sacrifice;  so  likewise 
the  stranger,  through  all  generations,  by  circumcision,  and  baptism, 
and  bringing  of  a  sacrifice."  All  this  is  confirmed  by  the  exam- 
ple of  our  adorable  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  by  whose  con- 
formity with  these  three  institutions  in  the  elder  Church,  was  shown 
forth  their  dignity  and  their  importance,  with  the  high  and  binding 
duty  ever  resting  on  the  willing  and  obedient  "to  fulfil  all  right- 
eousness."t  It  is  expressly  testified  of  Him,  that  "when  eight 
days  were  accomplished"  from  his  birth  in  our  nature,  "He  was 
circumcised;"!  that  he  was  subsequently  "brought  to  Jerusalem 
to  be  presented  unto  the  Lord,  and  to  offer  a  sacrifice,  according 
to  that  which  is  said  in  the  law;"||  and  that  he  was  baptised  by 
John,  under  ever  memorable  circumstances,  for  that  in  His  bap- 
tism He  was  owned  as  the  "Beloved  Son"  of  God."§  And 
Himself  taught  men  to  "suffer  it  to  be  so,"^  till  "His  own  self 
bare  our  sins  in  His  own  body  on  the  tree,"**  and  "made  there 
(by  His  one  oblation  of  himself  once  offered)  a  full,  perfect,  and 
sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation  and  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world."tt  Then,  with  the  out-pouring  of  His  own  most 
precious  blood,  He  declared  the  shedding  of  blood,  in  connexion 
with  the  covenant  of  grace,  to  be  "  finished  ;"  and  thenceforward 
dispensed  with  the  bloody  sacrifice  and  bloody  circumcision  as 
means  of  participation  in  its  blessings.  Baptism,  a  "sign"  of 
deliverance  and  purification,  He  retained,  changing  it  by  most 
express  and  solemn  appointment  into  a  perpetual  sacrament. 
"  He  kept  this  ceremony,"  says  one  of  our  old  and  learned 
divines,  "that  they  who  were  led  only  by  outward  things,  might 
be  the  better  called  in,  and  easier  enticed  into  the  religion,  when 
they  entered  by  a  ceremony  which  their  nation  always  used  in 

*Numb.  XV.  15.  tSt.  Matt.  iii.  15.  tSt.  Luke  ii.  21. 

||Ib.  vs.  2-2,  24.  $St.  Matt.  iii.  16,  17. 

nib.  vs.  15.  *n  Pet  li.  24. 

ttPrayer  of  Consecration  in  Communion  office,  Book  of  Com.  Prayer. 


16  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

the  like  cases;  and  therefore  without  change  of  the  outward  act, 
He  put  into  it  a  new  spirit,  and  gave  it  a  new  grace  and  proper 
efficacy;  He  sublimed  it  to  higher  ends,  and  adorned  it  with 
the  stars  of  heaven  ;  He  made  it  to  signify  greater  mysteries, 
to  convey  greater  blessings,  to  consign  the  bigger  promises,  to 
cleanse  deeper  than  the  skin,  and  to  carry  proselytes  further 
than  the  gates  of  the  institution."  *  So  baptism  passed  on 
into  a  Divine  Evangelical  institution,  of  the  ordination  of  which 
two  Evangelists  give  us  the  record, — "Go  ye,  therefore,  and  dis- 
ciple all  nations,f  baptising  tliem  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"t  records  St.  Matthew.  This 
was  one  of  the  last  commandments  our  Lord  gave  upon  the  earth, 
when  He  taugiit  His  Apostles  "the  things  pertaining  to  the  king- 
dom of  God  ;"1|  and  was  therefore  enforced  with  the  sanction  of  a 
promise,  given  in  the  record  of  St.  Mark,  which  because  made  by 
Him  shall  never  fail, — "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptised  shall  be 
saved  ;"§  teaching  thus  positively  that  which  He  had  negatively 
taught  the  "ruler  of  the  Jews," — "Except  a  man  be  born  of  water 
and  of  the  spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."^ 
Thus  was  baptism  placed  upon  the  same  ground  of  obligation,  as 
regards  its  reception,  which  circumcision  had  occupied  before, — 
"The  uncircumcised  man-child,  whose  flesh  is  not  circumcised, 
that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people;  he  hath  broken  my 
covenant  ;"**  and  with  sacrifice,  previous  to  the  appointment  of 
circumcision, — without  it  "  the  Lord  had  not  respect."tt  Bap- 
tism is  now,  therefore,  the  only  appointed  means  or  mode  by  which 
to  "  pass  into"  the  covenant  of  God  in  Christ, — the  only  certified 
"sign  and  seal"  by  which  "  they  who  are  not  a  people"  are  "  marked 
out"  as  "  the  people  of  the  Lord,"  and  receive  a  title,  to  all  the  bless- 
ings of  the  kingdom,  which  He  hath  prepared  for  His  chosen-IJ 

•Jeremy  Taylor,  of  Baptism. 

tSo  should  the  words  be  rendered,  and  so  are  tliey  In  the  margin. 

tSt.  Matt,  xxviii.  19.  IIActs  i.  3.  $St.  Matt.  xvi.  16. 

USt.  John  iii.  5.  **Gen.  xvii.  14.  ttGen.  iv.  4,  5. 

ttAll  to  vvliom  God's  invitations  are  made  known,  are  "called"  (Rom.  viii.  30) 
by  Him  "  from  curse  and  damnation"  (Art.  xvii.)  to  a  participation  in  all  the  bless- 
ings 'promised  to  them  that  love  Him,"  (St.  James  i.  12).  Of  "those  who  are 
endued  with  so  excellent  a  benefit  of  God,"  (Art.  xvii.,)  '•  they"  who  "  through  grace 
obey  the  calling"  (lb.),  and  "join  themselves  to  Him  in  His  covenant,"  (Jer.  1.  5,) 
"  by  His  spirit  working  in  due  season,"  (Art.  xvii.,)  are  the  "called  according  to 
His  purpose"  (Rom.  viii.  28);  are  the  "elect  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of 
God  the  Father  through  sanctilication  of  the  Spirit  unto  obedience"  (1  Pet.  i.  2); 
are  the  "  chosen  in  Him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  17 

IV.  The  subjects  proper  for  admission  to  the  covenant  of 
grace  have  been  the  same  from  the  beginning.  "  Holy  Scripture 
and  ancient  authors"  concur  in  teaching  that  "our  captains,  our 
elders,  our  officers,  with  all  our  men,  our  little  ones,  our  wives, 
and  the  stranger  that  is  with  us,"  all  ranks,  ages  and  conditions, 
should  "enter  into  covenant  with  the  Lord  God,  and  into  His 
oath,  that  they  may  be  established  for  a  people  unto  Himself,  and 
that  He  may  be  a  God  unto  them."*  Nothing  but  manifest  moral 
unfitness  ever  could  exclude  any  from  such  admission.  As  the 
fathers,  in  whom  was  the  obedient  will,  so  the  children,  in  Hkeness 
to  whom  meetness  for  the  kingdom  was  declared  by  our  Lord 
to  consist,!  were  all  admitted  to  an  equal  participation  in  the  co- 
venant of  promise.  "  He  that  is  eight  days  old,"  it  was  com- 
manded to  Israel,  "shall  be  circumcised  among  you,"|  —  be 
"entered  in  God's  covenant  and  into  His  oath," — else  "that  soul 
shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people."]]  And  if  our  position  regard- 
ing the  unity  of  the  Divine  Covenant  be  allowed,  if  it  be  con- 
ceded that  the  covenant  of  God  formed  for  man's  recovery,  from 
that  promulged  in  paradise  to  this  present  be  one,  of  which  Jesus 
Christ  has  been,  is  now,  and  must  ever  be  the  one  sole  mediator, 
how  can  it  be  maintained  with  satisfaction  to  us,  that  in  its  later  and 
more  glorious,  the  Gospel  era,  it  shall  be  less  comprehensive  than  It 

and  without  blame  before  Him  in  love"  (Eph.  i.  4,) — "chosen  out  of  mankind  to 
everlasting  salvation,  as  vessels  made  to  honor"  (Art.  xvii.);  are  the  "marked  out 
(predestinated)  to  be  conformed  to  tiie  image  of  His  Son"  (Rom.  viii.  29)  by  the 
grace  vouchsafed  them  in  the  relation  in  which  they  are  tlms  brought  to  God,  through 
Christ,  as  "  His  heirs,  joint  heirs  with  Christ;"  are  the  "  'justified'  by  the  washing 
ol" regeneration;  are  the  'glorified'  by  the  gift,  by  the  adojition"  (Chrys.  in  Rom. 
viii.  30,)  as  "fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  household  of  God  "  (Eph.  ii. 
19).  Hence  the  whole  visible  company  of  those  who  have  entered  God's  covenant 
and  so  are  adopted  as  His  people,  is  appropriately  termed  ekklesin,  in  such  connex- 
ions rendered  "the  Church," — '  an  assembly  of  tlie  peojjle  called  out,"  "elected," 
"chosen"  (Parkhurst).  Those  of  this  "marked  out  (predestinated)"  company, 
those  of  this  "called,"  "elected,"  '-chosen,"  "adopted"  assembly  who  "walk  reli- 
giously in  good  works"  (Art.  xvii.),  who  fulfil  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
"marked  out,"  (predestined)  by  becoming  truly  "conformed  to  the  image  of  the 
Son,"  "  at  length  by  God's  mercy  attain  everlasting  life"  (lb.);  whilst  the  others, 
the  "  curious  and  carnal,"  though  by  their  calling  they  are  equally  "children  of  the 
kingdom"  (St.  Matt.  viii.  12),  yet,  not  "giving  diligence  to  make  their  calling  and 
election  sure  (2  Pet.  i.  10),  by  "working  out  their  salvation  with  fear  and  tremb- 
ling" (Phil.  ii.  12),  frustrate  the  grace  of  Him  by  whom  they  were  called,  predesti- 
nated, elected,  adopted,  who  is  "  not  willing  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all 
should  come  to  repentance"  (2  Pet.  iii.  9),  and  "shall  be  cast  into  outer  darkness; 
there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth"  (St.  Matt.  viii.  12). 

*Text.  tSt.  Matt,  xviii.  3. 

JGen.  xvii.  12.  ||Ib.  vs.  14. 


16  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

is  admitted  to  have  been  iri  its  earlier  stages  ?  What  authority  may 
be  safely  regarded  as  sufficient  to  cause  us  to  "  put  asunder"  from 
His  covenant  those  whom  God  hath  once  expressly  provided  shall 
be  joined  to  Him  in  it?  Certainly,  Brethren,  no  other  authority 
than  His  whose  was  the  appointment  at  the  first  could  change  it ; 
on  no  less  evidence  than  His  most  express  warrant  from  whom 
tlie  gospel  came  may  we  be  satisBed  that  the  ^rms  of  mercy  are 
open  less  widely  now  than  ever,  that  the  covenant  of  God  is  now 
exclusive  of  any  to  whom  it  was  by  the  Law  made  open.  It  would 
be  a  trial  of  our  faith  and  our  feelings,  such  as  we  could  hardly 
bear,  under  any  circumstances,  thus  to  interpret  the  New  Testa- 
ment against  the  Old,  the  commission  of  the  Son  for  discipling 
against  that  of  the  Father.  When,  therefore,  we  beheld  the  cov- 
enant of  God  opened  by  Himself,  in  the  beginning,  to  the  "little 
ones"  of  His  people,  that  they  might  be  entered  into  it,  we  could 
not  bring  ourselves  to  such  a  restriction  of  His  mercy  as  now  to 
exclude  them  from  it,  except  by  His  own  express  appointment. 
No  wit  of  man  employed  in  reasonings  on  children's  disqualifica- 
tion because  of  unconsciousness ;  no  faithless  questionings  as  to 
what  advantage  hath  it.'*  could  ever  thus  persuade  us,  while  the 
Divine  mind  once  revealed  upon  the  subject,  should  stand  before 
us  unrepealed.  Nothing  short  of  an  express  repeal  of  His 
former  provision,  for  their  union  with  Him,  nothing  less  than  an 
express  prohibition,  longer  to  bring  them  to  Him,  could  or  should 
deter  us  from  suffering  the  little  children  thus  to  come  to  Him, — 
they  concerning  whom  the  Savior  declared,  "of  such  is  the  king- 
dom of  God."*  But  where  is  the  repeal.'*  Where  the  prohibi- 
tion.^ Where  the  record  of  any  such  restriction  of  the  covenant 
of  mercy  under  the  gospel.''  In  books  which  contain  theories  of 
man's  fashioning,  but  not,  my  Brethren,  in  the  book  of  God.t  In 
the  gospel  we  find  the  doors  of  mercy  thrown  wide  open  as  before, 
by  Him  through  whom  mercy  first  came  to  our  perishing  race ; 
yea,  wider,  for  "  now  in  Christ  Jesus,"  declares  the  Apostle,  "ye, 
who  sometime  were  far  off,  are  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ. 
For  he  is  our  peace,  who  hath  made  both  one,  and  hath  broken 

*St.  Mark  x.  14. 

t"  Since  it  was  ordinary,  in  all  ages  before,  to  have  infants  baptised,  if  Christ 
would  have  had  that  custom  abolished,  He  would  have  expressly  forbidden  it.  So 
that  His  and  the  Scripture's  silence  iu  tliis  matter  does  confirui  and  establish  Infant 
Uai)ti,-4ni  forever.'*  Lightfoot. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  19 

down  the  middle  wall  of  partition  between  us."*  In  addition, 
therefore,  to  such  as  were  already  His  own,  He  provided,  *' through 
the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all,"t  that 
those  "  which  in  time  past  were  not  a  people,"  should  "now"  be 
"  the  people  of  God  ;  which  had  not  obtained  mercy,"  should 
"now  obtain  mercy."|  "If,"  therefore,  "the  ministration  of  con- 
demnation be  glory,  much  more  doth  the  ministration  of  righteous- 
ness exceed  in  glory."||  Thus,  His  commission  to  His  Apostles 
for  "  discipling,"  was  made  comprehensive  as  the  race  of  man 
whom  He  came  to  visit  and  redeem.^  "Go  ye,"  said  He,  "and 
teach,"  or,  as  it  is  more  correctly  rendered  in  the  margin,  "disci- 
ple all  nations,  baptising  them."^  Obviously,  this  "  disciple  all 
nations,"  must  signify  all  that  it  can  signify,  when  simply  re- 
garded,— all  that  are  reckoned  in  the  making  up  of  a  nation, — 
all  who  are  included  in  the  number  of  its  people.  That  infants 
are  of  this  order  of  beings  must  be  admitted.  Then  are  they 
of  the  people,  of  the  "all  nations." 

That  the  Apostles  so  understood  their  commission,  we  think, 
is  clear.  Hence  it  is,  that  we  find  St.  Peter,  in  his  memorable 
sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  declaring  remission  of  sins  and 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  baptism,  to  be  the  promise 
for  their  children,  as  well  as  for  the  convicted  multitude  them- 
selves:— "Repent,"  says  he,  "and  be  baptised  every  one  of  you 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins;  and  ye  shall 
receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  the  promise  is  unto  you, 
and  to  your  children."**  What  promise  .''  Clearly  the  promise 
of  remission  of  sins,  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  "every  one 
baptised  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."  Consistently  with  this, 
we  read,  of  "  Lydia,  whose  heart  the  Lord  had  opened,"  and  of 
"her  household, "ft  of  the  "keeper  of  the  prison,"  at  Philippi, 
"  and  all  his,"t|  and  of  "  the  household  of  Stephanus,"|I||  that  they 
"were  baptised."  Those  passages  of  scripture  in  which  repent- 
ance, and  faith,  and  renewal  are  associated  with  baptism,  accom- 
panied by  a  declaration  of  approval,  so  far  from  disproving  our 
position,  are  most  satisfactorily  interpreted  by  it.  They  are  in 
precise  conformity  with  declarations  made  in  the  Old  Testament, 
over  and  over  again,  touching  the  Israelites,  whose  children,  we 


*Eph.  ii.  13,  14.  tHeb.  r..  10.  tl  Pet.  ii.  10. 

||2  Cor.  iii.  9.  {St.  John  iii.  18,  17.  USt.  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 

*Mcts  :i.  38,  39.  ttActs  xvi.  14.  15. 

Ulb.  xvi.  27,  S3.  mil  Cor.  i.  16. 


^  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

know,  were  all  caused  to  "pass,"  by  the  appointed  sign  and  seal, 
"  into  the  covenant."*  The  Israelites  were  as  explicitly  com- 
manded to  repent  and  be  circumcised,  as  we  in  the  gospel  are 
commanded  to  repent  and  be  baptised.  And  as  no  truly  serious 
and  sensible  man  could  find  room  to  argue  from  such  injunctions 
in  the  law,  that  none  but  conscious  subjects,  who  had  professedly 
turned  from  their  evil  ways,  should  be  entered  into  God's  cove- 
nant by  circumcision,  for  that  the  practice  of  the  whole  Jewish 
Church,  would  refute  his  cavils;  so  neither  can  it  be  justly  con- 
cluded, from  corresponding  passages  in  the  Gospel,  that  none  but 
conscious  subjects,  in  whom  is  the  gift  of  faith,  should  be  entered 
into  God's  covenant  now  by  baptism,  for  that  the  whole  tenor  of 
the  Gospel,  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the  Apostles,  and  those  of 
the  Catholic  Church  forbid  it.  The  successors  of  the  Apostles  un- 
derstood their  commission,  which  they  received  from  the  Apostles, 
as  the  Apostles  understood  theirs  received  from  Christ.  That 
understanding  we  have  noticed  ;  and  through  it,  as  you  liave  seen, 
the  "little  ones"  were  baptised;  or,  in  the  phrase  of  Irenaeus, 
"  The  infants  and  little  children  are  regenerated,  or  born  again 


•  "The  covenant  had  this  property,  that  whosoever  was  in  it  had  a  right  to  bring 
all  his  children  to  be  entered  into  it  in  tiieir  infancy.  But  it  was  not  limited  or  con^ 
fined  to  the  off:jpring  of  Abraham's  body,  for  the  words  are,  'He  that  is  born  in  thy 
house,  or  bought  with  money  of  any  stranger,  which  is  not  of  thy  seed,  &.C.,  must 
be  circumcised.'  And  so  a  proselyte  was  to  circumcise  all  his  males,  (Ex.  xii.  48, 
49,)  and  then  he  was  to  be  as  one  born  in  the  laud.  So  that  the  covenant  extended 
then  (as  it  does  now)  to  all  of  any  nation  that  would  come  into  it;  and  they  were 
to  bring  into  it  all  the  infant  children,  not  only  of  their  own  body,  but  all  that  they 
had  the  legal  custody  or  possession  of"  Wall. 

"  Suppose  our  Savior  had  bid  the  Apostles  '  Go,  disciple  all  nations,  circumcising 
them;'  luust  they  not  have  circumcised  the  infants  of  the  nations  as  well  as  the 
grown  men,  though  there  had  been  no  express  mention  made  of  infants  in  the  com- 
mission?" Undoubtedly  ;  because  infants  had  ever  previously  beeu  circumcised  to 
be  "entered  into  God's  covenant  and  into  his  oath,"  and  the  Savior  had  no  where 
taught  that  they  were  now  to  be  excluded  from  a  reception  of  the  same  sign.  Why, 
then,  the  covenant  being  the  same,  and  baptism  being  ap2)oiuted  "  as  the  sole  mode  " 
of  entering  inlo  it,  tiie  only  token  of  the  covenant,  without  the  exclusion  of  any  to 
whom  it  had  formerly  been  open,  why  shall  not  the  commission  to  "disciple  all  na- 
tions, baptising,"  be  understood  in  as  large  a  sense  as  it  confessedly  would,  were  it 
"disciple  all  nations,"  circumcising  them? 

"If  baptism  and  the  baptising  of  infanta  had  been  a  new  thing,  and  unheard  of 
until  John  Baptist  came,  as  circumcision  was,  until  God  appointed  it  to  Abraham, 
there  would  have  been,  no  doubt,  as  express  couimand  for  bapti.-iing  infants  as  there 
was  for  circumcising  them.  But  wiien  the  baptising  of  infants  was  a  thing  com- 
monly known  and  used,  as  appears  from  incontestible  evidence  from  their  writers, 
there  needed  not  express  assertions  that  such  and  such  persons  were  to  be  the  ob- 
jects of  baptism."  Lightfoot. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  21 

unto  God."*  And  the  practice  has  been  perpetuated  in  the  Church 
uninterrupied ;  and,  with  scarce  an  exception,  unquestioned. t 
The  objections  of  Terlullian,  in  the  second  century,  objections 
which  grew  out  of  peculiar  and  private  views,  but  witness  to  its 
antiquity  and  universahty.  ,  The  notion  of  a  portion  of  the  Wal- 
druses,  in  the  twelvth  century,  was  too  limited  and  transient  to  be 
regarded  as  an  exception  to  the  uniformity  of  faith  and  practice 
in  this  regard  among  "those  who  professed  and  called  themselves 
christians."  It  was  reserved  for  the  sixteenth  century  to  instruct 
us  that  this  doctrine  and  the  practice  of  the  Church  Catholic  were 
all  wrong.  In  1525,  a  sect  arose  in  Germany,  whose  distinction, 
among  other  things,  consisted  in  their  opposing  infant  baptism, 
and  teaching  that  baptism  ought  to  be  administered  only  to  per- 
sons come  to  years  of  discretion;  and  which,  in  strict  maintenance 
of  the  same  error  now  subsists,  and  by  various  arguments  suc- 
ceeds in  undermining  the  faith  of  many,  and  so  excluding  from 
the  covenant  of  grace  and  mercy  a  considerable  number  of  that 
noblest  portion  of  the  heritage  of  Christ, — those 

"  tender  gems  so  full  of  heaven," 

that  when  freed  thus  from  Adam's  curse, — 

"  Not  in  the  twiliglit  stars  on  high, 
'•  Not  in  ti*a  moist  flowers  at  even, 
"  See  we  our  God  so  nigh."t 

The  Church,  my  Brethren,  has  known  no  other  doctrine.  On 
this  point, 

"The  saints  of  all  ages  in  harmony  meet." 

Upon  the  sure  ground  of  "  Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  authors," 
therefore,  we  take  our  stand,  and,  in  the  language  of  our  twenty- 
seventh  Article  of  Religion,  affirm,  that  "  The  baptism  of  young 


•Adv.  Haeres.  lib.  2,  c.  39. 

t"  The  custom  of  our  Mother,  the  Church,  in  baptising  infants,  must  not  be  dis- 
regarded, nor  considered  needless,  nor  believed  to  be  other  tlian  a  tradition  of  the 
Apostles."  St.  Augustine. 

"  It  is  so  evident  from  the  ancient  records  of  the  Church,  that  it  is  to  be  wondered 
how  some  learned  persons  could  run  into  the  contrary  opinion."  Bingham. 

A  chain  of  testimony,  from  each  century,  linking  this  practice  with  Apostolic 
times,  Cduld  be  easily  adduced,  did  these  limits  permit. 

t Christian  Year. 


as  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

children  is  in  anywise  to  be  retained,  as  most  agreeable  with  the 
will  of  Christ;"  or  in  that  of  our  text,  that  "our  little  ones,  with 
our  captains,  our  elders,  our  officers,  with  all  the  men.  our  wives, 
and  the  stranger  that  is  with  us,  from  the  hewer  of  wood  unto  the 
drawer  of  water,  should  enter  into  covenant  with  the  Lord  God, 
and  into  His  oath." 

V.  The  authority  requisite,  by  which  to  admit  persons  into  cove- 
nant with  God,  has  ever  been  a  divine  commission,  in  which  this 
was  comprehended.  "  No  man  taketh  this  honor  to  himself,  but 
he  that  is  called  of  God,  as  was  Aaron,"*  is  the  emphatic  testi- 
mony of  an  Apostle.  And  so  has  it  been  in  every  period  of  the 
Church,  from  the  beginning  ;t  so  did  the  Savior  ordain,  in  that  he 
restricted  the  office  of  baptising  to  the  Apostles,  and  those  their 
successors  who  should  share  in  their  office  and  powers  ;|  and  so 
has  our  Church  declared,  that  it  shall  be  done  by  a  "  lawful  minis- 
ter ;"||  one  who  "has  had  Episcopal  consecration  or  ordination. ">§ 
In  her  restriction  of  the  administration  of  baptism  to  a  "  lawful 
minister,"  the  Church  is  sustained  by  an  historic  testimony,  of  the 
practice  of  the  whole  Church,  in  the  days  of  her  purity,  when 
she  came  "fresh  from  underneath  the  Throne  of  God,"^  as  well 
as  by  the  Assembly  of  Westminster,**  and  the  Synod  of  Dort,tt 
against  the  lay  baptisms  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  In  her  teach- 
ing that  "  he  only  shall  be  accounted  or  taken  to  be  a  lawful  min- 
ister, who  has  had  Episcopal  consecration  or  ordination,"  she 
finds  support  in  the  constant  voice  of  the  Church  Catholic,  in  her 
Doctors  and  Fathers,  confessors  and  martyrs,  from  the  beginning; 
and,  then,  in  holy  scripture  does  she  point  to  the  record  that  thus 

*IIeb.  V.  4. 

tOnly  persons  Divinely  appointed  could  ever  rightfully  execute  the  office  of  the 
priesthood,  to  which,  from  the  beginning,  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  were  entrusted. 
The  heads  of  families,  and  the  first-born  sons  were  the  priests  first  designated,  and 
they  alone  exercised  ilie  priestly  office. 

For  that,  the  Patriarchal  priesthood,  in  process  of  time,  was  substituted  the  Leviti. 
cal ;  "  the  Levites,  from  among  the  children  of  Israel,  were  taken  instead  of  all  the 
first-born;"  "to  do  the  service  of  the  children  of  Israel,  in  the  tabernacle  of  the 
congregation."     (Numb.  iii.  12;  viii.  18,  19.) 

Then,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  came  the  Christian  priesthood,  commissioned  by  our 
Lord,  exclusive  of  all  and  every  other.     (St.  John  xx.  19—23;  St.  Matt,  xxviii.  16 

^20.)    From  the  beginning,  therefore,  have  the  ministers  of  God  been  set  apart  by 

His  appointment;  from  the  beginning  to  this  present  has  the  principle,  asserted  by 
the  Apostle,  prevailed — that  "  no  man  taketh  this  honor  to  himself" 

tSt.  Matt,  xxviii.  ]!),  20.  ||Office  of  Private  Baptism. 

$Pref  to  Ordinal,  B.  C  P.  UThonghts  in  Past  Years. 

**Forni  of  Government,  chap.  iv.  VII.;  Directory,  chap.  vii.  I. 
ttConf.  of  Faith,  Art.  xxx. ;  Liturgy,  Form  of  Ordination  of  Ministers. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  23 

it  should  be,  and  so  by  "the  law  and  the  testimony"*  prove  the 
doctrine,  so  that  it  may  "  be  required  that  it  should  be  behoved. "t 
That  "without  the  Bishop,  it  is  not  lawful  to  baptise,"J  was  the 
rule  deduced  from  the  Scriptures  in  the  Church's  earliest  days, 
and  has  been  acted  upon  by  her  in  every  period  of  her  history. 
He  who  was  empowered  by  the  Bishop  was  ever  "accounted  and 
taken  to  be  a  lawful  minister;"  and,  therefore,  to  admit  persons 
into  covenant  with  God,  by  baptism,  was  whhin  the  terms  of  his 
commission;  from  him  might  baptism  be  rightly  received. 

VI.  The  mode  in  which  baptism  should  be  administered,  need 
not  at  this  time  specially  engage  us.  For  the  Church  allows  such 
latitude  here  that  all  may  be  satisfied.  She  provides  that  the 
minister  "shall  dip"  the  candidate  "in  water,  or  pour  water  upon 
npon  him, "II — that  is,  shall  baptise  either  by  affusion  or  immer- 
sion. Either  mode  is  thus  placed  at  the  choice  of  the  candidate, 
whose  conscience  in  such  a  matter,  the  Church,  with  her  accus- 
tomed consideration  and  charity,  would  have  fully  satisfied.^ 
Baptism  by  immersion,  therefore,  would  as  freely  be  administered 
by  us  as  by  affusion  ;  the  choice  which  the  Clnirch  permits,  to  be 
dipped  or  to  have  the  water  poured,  we  would  not  withhold. 

VII.  The  benefits  of  admission  to  God's  covenant,  it  is  clear, 
from  what  has  been  already  adduced,  have  been  at  all  times  great. 
To  be  enrolled  as  part  of  an  elect  company,^  made  heirs  of  "  ex- 
ceeding great  and  precious  promises,"**  entrusted  with  "the  ora- 
cles of  God,"tt  permitted  the  means  of  grace  and  the  enjoyment  of 
the  special  teachings  and  protection  of  the  Almighty,  to  have  Him 
in  an  especial  sense  for  a  God,  and  be  regarded  by  Him  as  empha- 
tically His  people,  would  ever  be  considered  as  no  ordinary  marks 
of  distinction,  no  lightly-to-be-regarded  privileges.  But,  under 
the  gospel,  wherein  the  anti-type  is  furnished  to  all  the  types,  and 
the  substance  given  for  all  the  preceding  shadows  of  the  law, 
God's  word  of  mercy,  in  connexion  with  His  covenant,  is  made 
to  be  preeminently  a  word  of  power;  imparting,  through  the  sign, 

*Is.  viii.,20.  tArt.  VI.  B.  C.  P. 

tlgnatius.     So  Tertullian.  || Rubric  in  Office  of  Baptism. 

$At  the  same  time,  he  is  taught  that  "  it  is  not  the  quantity  of  water,  but  God's 
appointing  and  blessing  it  to  holy  purposes,  that  gives  it  all  its  efficacy." 

"It  inusl  be  noted,  that  baptism,  in  the  ancient  style  of  the  Chinxh,  does  not  ab- 
solutely and  necessarily  import  dipping  or  immersion,  though  that  was  the  more 
usual  ceremony  practiced  heretofore,  as  well  upon  infants  as  adult  persons." 

Bingham. 
IfEkklesia.  *'*2  Pet.  i.  4.  ttRom.  iii.  2. 


^  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

an  actual  participation  in  all  ihe  benefits  of  Christ's  holy  Incarna- 
tion;* effecting  an  actual  incorporation  into  Hini;t  making  Him 
to  be  unto  us  "  wisdom,  tind  rightcoiisnesi?,  and  sanclification, 
and  redemption."t  And  it  is  exactly  this  difference  which  makes 
of  all  former  modes  of  admission  to  God's  covenant  mere  rites,  of 
baptism  a  sacrament ;  that  is,  not  only  a  mode  of  passing  into 
God's  covenant,  but  a  means  whefeby  we  are  engrafted  into  Christ, 
become  justified  in  Him,  receive?  the  spirit  of  His  holiness,  after- 
wards to  be  developed  and  increased  by  its  gift  in  larger  measures,|| 
and  a  pledge  to  assure  us  of  the  "inward  and  spiritual  grace" 
therein  actually  given. 

Such,  Brethren,  we  believe,  on  abundant  evidence  from  Holy 
Scripture  and  ancient  authors,  to  be  the  peculiar  virtue  which 
Christ,  His  Apostles,  and  His  Church,  attach  to  baptism.  The 
great  Hooker  comprehended  it  all  in  the  one  striking  sentence  : 
"  Baptism  is  a  sacrament  which  God  hath  instituted  in  His 
Church,  to  the  end  that  they  which  receive  the  same  might  be 
incorporated  into  Christ,  and  so  through  His  most  precious  merit, 
obtain  as  well  that  saving  grace  of  imputation  which  taketh  away 
all  former  guiltiness,  as  also  that  infused  divine  virtue  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  giveth  to  the  powers  of  the  soul  the  first  disposition 
towards  future  newness  of  life-''-^ 

This  view  was  derived  by  Hooker  immcdiatehj  from  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Church,  that  "they  who   receive  baptism  rightly," 

*Rom.  vi.  3.  tG;il.  iii.  27;  J  Cor.  vi.  15;  xii.  13,  27;  Eph.  v.  30. 

"  In  Hira  we  actually  are  by  our  actual  incorporation  into  that  society  which 
hath  Him  for  their  Head;  am!  doth  ni  ike  togeliicr  with  Him  one  Body  (He  and 
they  in  that  resjiecl  havinj;  one  ii;ime);  for  which  cau.'^e.  by  virtue  of  this  mystical 
conjunction,  we  are  of  Him,  and  in  llim,  even  as  thougii  our  very  flesh  and  bones 
should  be  made  continuate  with  His."  Hooker. 

"  In  the  very  act  of  baptism,  tlie  Spirit  unites  us  \into  Christ,  and  makes  us  mem- 
bers of  His  body;  and  if  of  His  body,  then  of  His  churcli  and  kingdom,  that  being 
all  His  body.  '  By  one  spirit  we  are  all  baptised  into  one  body'  (1  Cor.  xii.  13); 
'As  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptised  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ,'  (Gal.  iii. 
27.)  Bp.  Beveridge. 

"  [In  baptism]  made  members  of  Christ."  Church  Catechism. 

tl  Cor.  i.  30. 

II"  The  first  portion  of  sanctifying  grace  is  given  at  Baptism,  which  is  the  seal  of 
justification,  and  the  beginning  of  sanclification."  Bishop  Horxe. 

"The  immediate  eft'ect  of  the  Spirit  in  BaiJtism.  is  the  remission  of  all  sin,  and 
removing  our  natural  disability  to  the  worship  and  service  of  God,  and  the  sentence 
of  condenmation  under  which  we  were  all  born;  (Rom.  v.  16;)  and  other  graces 
are  wrought  in  us  by  that  Holy  Spirit,  which,  by  baptism,  receives  us  under  its  pro- 
tection, gradually,  and  according  to  the  capacity  of  the  recipient."  Johnson. 
$Eccles.  Polity,  Book  V.  57. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  25 

"are  regenerate,  and  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's  Church  ;" 
are  "  born  again,  and  made  heirs  of  everlasting  salvation,  through 
pur  Lord  Jesus  Christ:"*  that  "baptism  is  not  only  a  sign  of 
profession,  and  mark  of  difference,  whereby  christian  men  are  dis- 
cerned from  others  that  be  not  christened :  but  it  is  also  a  sign  of 
regeneration,  or  new  birth,  whereby,  as  by  an  instrument,  they 
that  receive  baptism  rightly  are  grafted  into  the  Church:  the  pro- 
mises of  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  of  our  adoption  to  be  the  sons 
of  God  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  visibly  signed  and  sealed."+  And 
mediaielij,  through  tliese  teaciiings,  from  our  Lord  and  His  Apos- 
tles ;  the  latter  of  whom  expressly  taught  the  Roman  christians  and 
Galatian  converts  that  they  were  "baptised  into  Christ ;"|  and 
the  Corinthians,  that  "by  one  Spirit  we  are  all  baptised  into  one 
body ;  and  Iiave  been  all  made  to  drink  into  one  Spirit ;"  and 
"are  the  body  of  Christ  ;"||  and  to  Titus,  pronounced  baptism 
absolutely  to  be  "the  washing  of  regeneration,^  and  renewing  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;"^  and,  affirmed,  that  "baptism  now  saves  us, 
by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,"  if  it  be  received  with  "the 
answer  of  a  good  conscience,  towards  God  :"**  for  that  we  "  be 
baptised  for  the  remission  of  sins  ;  and  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
.Ghost :"tt  and  our  Lord,  as  the  Instructor  of  all  His  Church, 
"  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world, ||  to  Nicodemus,  the 
enquiring  ruler,  in  that  interview  of  the  night,  characterised  it  a 
being  "  born  again."  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again,"  were  His 
ever  memorable  words,  "  born  of  water  and  of  the  spirit,  he  can- 
not enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."||||  Upon  which  words  of  our 
Lord,  the  learned  Bishop  Beveridge  remarks, — "  That  we  may 
be  thus  born  of  the  spirit,  we  must  be  born  also  of  water  which 
our  Savior  here  puts  in  the  first  place.  Not  as  if  there  were  any 
such  virtue  in  water,  whereby  it  could  regenerate  us  ;  but  because 
this  is  the  rite  or  ordinance  appointed  by  Christ,  wherein  He  re- 
generates us  by  His  Holy  Spirit;  our  regeneration  is  wholly  the 
act  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  Seeing  Baptism  is  instituted  by  Christ 
Himself,  as  we  cannot  be  born  of  water  without  the  Spirit,  so  nei- 
ther can  we  in  an  ordinary  way  be  born  of  the  Spirit  without  water, 
used  or  applied  in  obedience  and  conformity  to  His  instUution. 

*Art.  tOffice  of  Baptism,  Book  of  Com.  Prayer. 

tRom.vi.  3;  Gal.  iii.  27.  jjl  Cor.  xii.  13,  27. 

§The  Homily  has  it,  "  The  fountain  of  the  new  birth."     Homily  on  the  Naticily. 
UTitus  iii.  5.  *^]  Pet.  iii.  21.  ttActs  ii.  38,  39. 

ttSt.  Matt,  xxviii.  20.  ||i|St  John  iii.  3,  5. 

D 


26  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

Chirst  hath  joined  them  together,  and  it  is  not  in  our  power  to 
part  them ;  he  that  would  be  born  of  the  Spirit  must  be  born  of 
water  also."  The  catholicity  of  this  interpretation  of  our  Lord's 
words  is  illustrated  by  the  Baptismal  Liturgies  of  the  whole  An- 
cient Church.  Every  vestige  of  christian  writing,  which  God  has 
preserved  to  us  from  the  ancient  Church,  that  explain  the  words, 
**  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,"  assumes  that 
they  declare,  that  in  baptism,  we  are  born  from  above  through  our 
Savior's  gift ;  every  passage  which  speaks  of  the  privileges  of 
baptism  at  all,  implies  the  same.* 

So  the  Catechism  of  our  Church  teaches,  thai  "  being  by  nature 
born  in  sin,  and  the  children  of  wrath,  we  are  hereby  made  the 
children  of  grace." 

So  our  twenty-fifth  Article  of  Religion,  "  Of  Sacraments." 
"Sacraments  ordained  of  Christ,  be  not  only  badges  or  tokens  of 
christian  men's  profession ;  but  rather  they  be  certain  sure  wit- 
nesses, and  effectual  signs  of  grace,  and  God's  good-will  toward 
us,  by  the  which  He  doth  work  invisibly  in  us,  and  doth  not  only 
quicken,  but  also  strengthen  and  confirm  our  faith  in  Him."  And 
our  twenty-seventh  Article,  "Of  Baptism,"  as  you  have  just 
heard,  that  "  Baptism  is  not  only  a  sign  of  profession,  but  it  is 
also  a  sign  of  regeneration,  or  new  birth,  whereby,  as  by  an  in- 
strument, they  that  receive  baptism  rightly  are  grafted  into  the 
Church  ;  the  promises  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  of  our  adop- 
tion to  be  the  sons  of  God,  are  visibly  signed  and  sealed." 

And  the  Creed, — that "  baptism"  is  "  for  the  remission  of  sins." 

So  the  Synod  of  Dort,  "  The  ministers,  on  their  part,  admin- 
ister the  sacrament,  and  that  which  is  visible,  but  our  Lord  giveth 
that  which  is  signified  by  the  sacrament,  namely,  the  gifts  and  in- 
visible grace ;  washing,  cleansing,  and  purging  our  souls  of  all 
filth  and  unrighteousness ;  renewing  our  hearts,  and  filling  them 
with  all  comfort;  giving  unto  us  a  true  assurance  of  His  fatherly 
goodness,  putting  on  us  the  new  man,  and  putting  off  the  old 
man  with  all  his  deeds."  "  For  the  sacraments  are  visible  signs 
and  seals  of  an  inward  and  invisible  thing,  by  means  whereof, 
God  worketh  in  us  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost."t 

So  the  Westminster  Confession  ;  "  Baptism  is  a  sacrament  of 
the  New  Testament,  ordained  by  Jesus  Christ,  not  only  for  the 

"See  Pijsey  on  Baptism. 

tCoiif.  of  FaiUi,  Arts.  XXXIII,  XXXIV. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  27 

Solemn  admission  of  the  party  baptised  into  the  visible  Church, 
but  also  to  be  unto  him  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace, 
of  his  ingrafting  into  Christ,  of  regeneration,  of  remission  of  sins* 
and  of  his  giving  up  to  God,  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  walk  in 
newness  of  life."* 

So  the  great  Calvin ;  "Christ  works  the  spiritual  cicumcision 
in  us,  not  with  the  intervention  of  the  ancient  sign,  which  had 
place  under  Moses,  but  of  baptism.  Baptism,  then,  is  the  sign 
of  the  thing  exhibited,  which  circumcision  figured  being  absent."t 

And  Luther, — "  To  put  on  Christ  evangelically,  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  imitation,  but  of  birth  and  new  creation  ;  when,  namely,  I 
am  clothed  with  Christ  Himself,  i.  e.  His  innocence,  justice,  wis- 
dom, power,  salvation,  Ufe,  spirit,  &c.  We  are  clothed  with 
Adam,  clothes  of  skins,  mortal  clothes,  and  a  garment  of  sin. 
This  raiment,  i.  e.  this  corrupt  and  sinful  nature,  we  contracted 
by  our  descent  from  Adam,  which  St.  Paul  calls  the  old  man, 
and  which  is  to  be  '  put  off  with  its  deeds,'  (Eph.  iv. ;  Col.  iii.) 
that  out  of  sons  of  Adam  we  may  be  made  sons  of  God.  This  is 
not  done  by  any  change  of  vestment,  not  by  any  laws  or  works, 
but  by  the  new  birth  and  renewal  which  takes  place  at  Baptism  ; 
as  St.  Paul  says,  'Whoever  of  you  are  baptised,  have  put  on 
Christ;'  '  according  to  His  mercy  He  saved  us  by  the  washing  of 
regeneration.'  For  there  is  kindled  in  the  baptised  a  new  life  and 
flame,  there  arise  new  and  holy  feelings,  fear,  trust  in  God,  hope, 
&c. ;  there  ariseth  a  new  will.  This,  then,  is  properly,  truly,  and 
evangelically  to  '  put  on  Christ.'  Therefore,  in  baptism,  there  is 
not  given  us  a  clothing  of  legal  righteousness,  or  our  own  works, 
but  Christ  is  our  raiment.  .But  He  is  not  law,  nor  legislator,  nor 
work,  but  a  Divine  and  unspeakable  gift,  which  the  Father  gave 
us,  to  be  our  Justifier,  Life-giver  and  Redeemer.  Wherefore, 
Baptism  is  a  thing  most  powerful  and  efficacious."^  A  testimony 
this,  Brethren,  just  in  accordance  with  thai  eloquent  voice  of  the 
ancient  Church',  which  taught,  that  in  Baptism,  "  we  were  at  once 
freed  from  punishment,  and  put  off  all  iniquity,  and  were  also  born 
from  above,  and  rose  again  with  the  old  man  buried,  and  were 
redeemed,  sanctified,  led  up  to  adoption,  made  brothers  of  the 
Only-begotten,  and  of  one  Body  with  Him,  and  counted  for  His 
flesh,  and  even  as  a  Body  with  the  Head,  so  were  we  united  to 


*Couf.  of  Faith,  chap,  xxviii.  tOn  Rom.  vi.  4,  5. 

t Luther  on  Gal.  iii.  27,  28. 


28  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

Him."*  "  As  when  thou  art  recasting  iron  or  gold,  thou  ntiakest 
it  pure  and  new  once  more,  just  so  the  Holy  Ghost  also,  recast- 
ing the  soyl  in  baptism  as  in  a  furnace,  and  consuming  its  sins, 
causes  it  to  glisten  with  more  purity  than  all  purest  gold."t 

And,  my  Brethren,  why  not  all  these  ?  Are  they  more  than 
simple  witnesses  to  the  teachingsof  Inspiration  .''  Are  they  other 
than  voices  in  harmony  with  that  of  the  Church  Catholic,  uttered 
in  the  execution  of  her  rightful  office, — interpreting  Holy  Scrip- 
ture? Reflect  again,  and  make  answer  to  your  consciences  and 
to  God. 

Did  not  our  Lord  ordain  His  Apostles  to  "disciple  all  nations, 
baptising  them.?"}  Did  He  not  teach,  that  "He  that  believeth 
and  is  baptised  shall  be  saved  .''"||  And  that  "except  a  man  be 
born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God  ?"§ 

Did  not  St.  Paul  declare  that  by  this,  "the  washing  of  regene- 
ration," or  as  the  Homily  has  it,  "the  fomitain  of  the  new  birth," 
"  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  are  saved  .''"  for  that 
"  by  one  spirit  we  are  all  baptised  into  one  body ;  and  are  "  made 
to  drink  into  one  spirit;"  are  "baptised  into  Christ;"  made 
"  members  of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones.'"  and 
so  are  "washed,  sanctified,  and  justified.'*" 

Did  not  St.  Peter  write,  that  "  Baptism  saves  us,"  if  it  be  re- 
ceived otherwise  than  hypocritically,  "with  the  answer  of  a  good 
conscience  toward  God  .^"  for  that  it  is  "  for  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost .^"  and,  that  to  "  wash  away"  our 
"  sins,"  we  should  "  be  baptised  .?"  ICloquently  and  truly,  there- 
fore, wrote  the  sainted  Taylor,  "  As  ii  was  in  the  old,  so  it  is  in 
the  new  creation ;  out  of  the  waters  God  produced  every  living 
creature :  and  when  at  first  '  the  Spirit  moved  upon  the  waters,' 
and  gave  life,  it  was  the  type  of  what  was  designed  in  the  renova- 
tion. Everything  that  lives  now,  '  is  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit ;' 
and  Christ,  who  is  our  Creator  and  Redeemer  in  the  new  birth, 
opened  the  fountains,  and  hallowed  the  stream  :  Christ,  who  is  our 
Life,  went  down  into  the  water  of  baptism  ;  and  we,  who  descend 
thither,  find  the  effects  of  life ;  it  is  living  water,  of  which  whoso 
drinks  needs  not  to  drink  of  it  again,  for  'it  shall  be  in  him  a  well 
of  water,  springing  up  to  life  eternal.'  "^ 

*Chrvsostom  on  Rom.  v.  17.  +I1>  on  1  Cor.  xv.  29. 

tm.  iviatl.  xxviii.  I'J.  ll'St.  iMark  xvi.  16. 

^SSt.  John  ill.  5.  liJereniy  Taylor,  of  Baptism. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  29 

We  go  down  into  the  waters,  in  Adam,  dead ;  we  rise  up 
again,  in  Christ,  alive;  and  so  it  is  written,  "as  in  Adam,"  in 
whom  we  all  are  by  nature,  bearing  his  sin,  and  sharing  in  its  con- 
demnation, "all  die;"  "even  so  in  Christ,"  in  whom  baptism 
places  us,  taking  us  out  of  Adam,  and  delivering  us  from  the  con- 
demnation of  that  "  birth  sin,"  "  shall  all  be  made  alive."*  And 
in  the  case  of  infants,  as  in  that  of  adults,  is  all  this  true ;  in  all 
alike,  where  there  exists  not  an  averse  will  and  an  evil  heart  of 
unbelief  to  turn  away  the  flowing  stream,  is  there  an  inflowing 
upon  the  soul,  through  the 

"  Great  laver  of  Baptismal  birth," 

of  that  Spirit  of  the  Redeemer,  by  which  His  whole  body  is  ani- 
mated, governed  and  sanctified.  In  all  is  their  Maker's  image 
defaced;  their  old  bodies,  born  after  Adam,  are  corrupt;  but  by 
this  insertion,  as  a  seed  or  graft,  into  the  very  mystical  body  of 
Christ,  the  Spirit  generates  a  new  principle  of  life  ;  their  corrupti- 
ble defects  are  begun  to  be  laid  aside ;  original  sin,  in  the  case  of 
infants,  orignal  and  actual  in  that  of  penitent  and  believing  adults, — 
repentance  and  faith  being  required  in  adults,  to  put  them  in  the 
fit  condition  for  the  reception  of  that  grace  of  God  in  which  child- 
ren are,  that  they  may  oppose  no  obstacle  to  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  which  children  do  not, — is  remitted,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  given,  by  which,  and  by  which  alone,  God  may  be  served 
acceptably ;  which,  working  in  the  baptised  both  to  will  and  to 
do,  gives  them  power,  which  otherwise  they  had  not,  "  to  do  good 
works,  pleasant  and  acceptable  to  God."t 

Therefore  are  we  rightly  said,  in  Holy  Baptism,  to  be  regene- 
rate," to  be  "born  again,"  to  be  "saved."  Is  not,  as  from  a 
birtli,  our  state  new,  as  "  members  of  Christ .''"  Our  relation  new, 
as  chosen  "children  of  God  .^"  our  characters,  hopes,  and  pros- 
pects new,  as  "  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  .''" 

Such,  Brethren,  are 

"the  stores  that  come 

From  our  Baptismal  well, 

.     .     .     blessings  numberless  and  strange."! 

*1  Cor.  XV.  22;  Art.  ix.  B.  C.  P. 

tArt.  X.  B.  C.  P. 

"The  inward  and  spiritual  grace"  in  baptism,  is  "a  death  unto  sin  and  a  new 
birth  unto  righteousness;  for,  being  by  nature  born  in  sin,  and  the  children  of  wrath, 
we  are  hereby  made  tlie  children  of  grace."  Church  Catechism. 

t  Baptistery. 


80  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

"  Happy,"  then,  may  we  exclaim  with  Tertulliam,  "  happy  the 
sacrament  of  our  water!  whereby,  being  cleansed  from  the  sins  of 
our  former  blindnes?,  we  are  made  free  unto  eternal  life."*    And, 

invokingly,  with  a  great  christian  poet, — 

".  ■  J  ;  .  '  •  n 

"  Bear  me,  great  flowing  fountains,  bear  me  still 

I'pou  your  heaving  breagl; 
Bear  me  yet  onward  to  th'  eternal  hill 

Where  I  at  length  may  rest  !"t 

And  well  may  we  be  called  upon,  when,  by  the  Church,  suCh 
blessing  has  been  imparted,  to  "give  thanks  unto  Almighty  God 
for  these  benefits,"  on  behalf  of  ourselves,  whom  •'  He  has  vouch- 
safed to  regenerate  by  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  given  for- 
giveness of  all  our  sins  ;"f  and  of  all  who  are  admitted  to  the 
same  holy  fellowship;  and  to  "  make  our  prayers  unto  Him  that 
we  may  lead  the  rest  of  our  lives  according  to  this  beginning."|| 

VIII.  The  peculiarity  and  magnitude  of  the  benefits  of  admis- 
sion to  God's  covenant,  now  by  baptism,  enforce  upon  our  most 
solemn  consideration,  that  profession  in  the  Creed,  "  I  acknow- 
ledo^e  one  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins;"  and,  showing  the 
virtue  which  the  Savior  has  lodged  in  his  Church,  to  be  thus  dis- 
pensed, teaches  its  unspeakable  importance  where  ft  may  be  had. 

And,  why,  my  Brethren,  will  you  not  believe  this.''  What  do 
you  gain  by  so  jealous  and  so  mean  a  spirit,  such  i' slowness  of 
heart  to  believe"  all  these  things  which  the  Scriptures  have  spoken, 
and  which  the  Church  would  teach  you  '*  out  of  the  same,"  but  the 
loss  of  most  consoling  and  comforting  thoughts ;  and  of  blessings 
such,  as  "eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered 
into  the  heart  of  'man  to  conceive,'*"'^  in  all  their  fullness  !  We 
have  depicted  but  the  faintest  outline  of  them  ;  and  yet  they  would 
seem  to  be  enough  to  fill  us  all  with  wonder,  and  to  inspire  us 
with  greatest  reverence  unto  that  holy  sacrament.  Though,  prac- 
tically, too  many  of  you  disown  it,  yet  you  dare  not  condemn  it, 
either  for  yourselves  or  for  your  children.  You  dare  not  pro- 
nounce it  "  vain  and  empty."  You  dare  not  say  that  it  cannot 
profit.  Then,  why  will  you  not  be  believing  and  obedient."*  Why 
will  you  not  let  it  be  unto  you  and  yours  according  to  God's 


"TertuUian  of  Baptism.  tBaptistery. 

i  Prayer  in  Confirmation  OlFice;  B.  C.  P. 

II      "      "  Ofiice  of  Baptism;  B.  C  P.  $1  Cor.  ii.  9. 


COVENANT  WITH  GOD.  31 

word?  If,  as  you  admit,  it  cannot  destroy;  why  will  you  not 
make  trial  of  its  power  to  saver"  The  Savior  hath  pronnised,  "If 
any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctiine,  whether 
it  be  of  God."*  Be  persuaded  to  apply  to  the  subject  now  pre- 
sented, this  practical  test.  Put  aside  the  proud  and  speculative 
reasonings  of  the  intellect;  and  let  the  warm  feelings  of  the  heart 
lead  you  to  seek  a  knowledge  of  the  doctrine,  in  the  observance 
of  it.  So  shall  you  have  the  witness  in  yourselves,  that  "  not  by 
works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but  according  to  His 
mercy  He  saved  us,  by  the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  renew- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  He  shed  on  us  abundantly,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Savior  ;"t  and  brought  us  *'  unto  Mount  Zion, 
and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and 
to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the  general  assembly 
and  church  of  the  first-born,  which  are  written  in  heaven,  and  to 
God  the  Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  to  Jesus  the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood 
of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh  belter  things  than  that  of  Abel. "| 

Dear  Brethren,  "  See  that  ye  refuse  not  him  that  speaketh. 
For  if  they  escaped  not  who  refused  him  that  spake  on  earth, 
much  more  shall  not  we  escape,  if  we  turn  away  from  Him  that 
speaketh  from  heaven  !"j|  Remember  that  teaching  of  the  Apos- 
tle, "Whosoever  transgresseth,  and  abideth  not  in  the 

DOCTRINE  OF  ChRIST,  HATH  ACT  GoD.  He  THAT  ABIDETH  IN 
THE  DOCTRINE  OF  ChRIST,  HE  HATH  BOTH  THE  FaTHER  AND 
THE  S0N."§ 

IX.  Brethren  Baptised,  who  in  t!ie  "  fountain  of  the  new  birth," 
the  "  laver  of  regeneration,"  have  been  brought  into  the  kingdom. 
of  the  Resurrection,  made  subjects  of  the  new  creation,  consider 
your  calling.  "  As  He  who  hath  called  you  is  holy,  so  be  ye 
holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation,"  else  may  ye  fall  from  the 
grace  wherein  ye  stand,  and  finally  "  be  cast  aways."^  Though 
"  not  every  deadly  sin,  willingly  committed  after  baptism,  is  sia 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  unpardonable ;  nor  the  grant  of  re- 
pentance to  be  denied  to  such  as  fall  into  sin  after  baptism ;  yet, 
if  after  we  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  depart  from  grace 
given,  and  fall  into  sin ;  unless  by  the  grace  of  God  we  arise 
again,  and  amend  our  lives  ;"**    our  having  "  entered  into  God's 


*St.  John  vii  17.  tTitiis  iii.  5,  6.  tHeb.  xii.  22,  23,  24. 

IJIb.  vs.  25.  §2  John  9.  f  1  Cor.  ix.  27.  "'Art.  XVI,  B.  C.  P. 


32  COVENANT  WITH  GOD. 

covenant  and  into  His  oath,"  and  been  "established  for  a  people 
unto  Himself,"  will  but  render  our  last  state  worse  than  the  first, 
make  all  our  gifts  and  privileges  a  savor  of  death  unto  death  ;  and 
finally  bring  us  into  th(t  hopeless  condition  of  apostates.  Writes 
the  Apostle,  "  It  is  impossible  for  thoj^e  who  were  once  enlight- 
ened," i.  e.  were  once  baptised,*  "and  have  tasted  of  the  heavenly 
gift,  and'  how  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  have  tasted 
the  good  word  of  God,  and  the  jiowers  of  the  world  to  come,  ^f 
they  should  fall  away,\  to  renew  them  again  unto  repentance  ;  see- 
ing they  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put 
Him  to  an  open  shame."|  In  this  world,  the  sign  of  Christ  upon 
their  foreheads  is  but  the  seal  (awful  perversion  !)  of  their  aggra-r 
vated  condemnation  ;  and  in  the  world  to  come,  glistening  with 
an  unimaginable  brightness,  for  the  eternal  flame  into  which  it 
shall  be  enkindled,  shall  burn  in  upon  their  souls  deeper  than  all 
other  fires,  and  make  them  conspicuous  for  their  misery  in  a  world 
of  the  unutterably  miserable.  O  my  soul,  come  not  thou  into  this 
sin !  O  Holy  and  Merciful  Savior,  Thou  most  worthy  Judge 
eternal,  suffer  not  us  or  ours  to  fall  from  Thee !  But,  give  us 
repentance  for  all  our  sins,  and  faith  to  keep  us  ever  pursuing* 
ever  going  "  on  unto  perfection."  And  may  our  children,  being 
taught  by  us  the  nature  of  their  calling,  be  made  partakers  of  the 
same  gifts  and  grace  !      And, 

'*  Grant,"  to  us  all,  "  O  Lord,  that  as  we  are  baptised  into 
the  death  of  thy  blessed  Son  our  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  so  by  con- 
tinual mortifying  our  corrupt  affections,  we  may  be  buried  with 
Him ;  and  that  through  the  grave  and  gate  of  death  we  may  pass 
to  our  joyful  resurrection,  for  His  merits,  who  died,  and  was 
buried,  and  rose  again  for  us,  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord* 
Amen."  II 


'Baptism,  from  the  beginning,  was  called  illumination.     So  Justin  Martyr,  Ire- 
naeus,  and  others. 

ti.  e.  Apostatise  from  the  living  God.     Heb.  iii.  12.  Jib.  xii.  4,  5,  6, 

llCollect  for  Easter  Even,  B.  C.  P. 


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